Being frugal isn’t just about making a money-saving a decision here and there. It can becomes a way of life!
While we were working hard to pay off six figures of student loan debt, living frugal was a necessity in order to reach our goals. Now, a dozen years later, we’re still sticking to many of our frugal habits.
Every now and then I like to take a step back from my frugal life to celebrate the wins, commiserate over the failures, and laugh about the funny parts. Here are a few of our frugal adventures from recently.
If you’re living the frugal life, I bet you have some frugal feats, flops, and funnies of your own! Share some recent favorites in the comments so we can celebrate, commiserate, and laugh along with you.
Frugal Feats
New-To-Us Table
We weren’t in the market for a new table, but when a friend offered one to us we considered it. Our table has two 12″ leaves that extend it to a length of 90″. The table from our friend has two 18″ leaves which extend the table an additional 12 inches past our current table. We have a family of 8 and often have friends over for dinner, so having a table that’s a little longer was a no-brainer for us. Mike and I went to pick the table up that evening. One of our favorite features of our 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan is the Stow-n-Go seats. All of the middle and back row seats easily fold down into the floor of the van leaving it completely open for hauling just about anything. Essentially it’s just a truck with sides and a roof!
Snazzy Socks
My 4th grader was working on some sock puppets for a school project. She was using some old socks from home, but I told her I would look at the store for new socks that would work better for her project. She said she needed a yellow sock and a blue sock. I was hopeful but uncertain that I would find anything at the one store I was going to.
I was shocked to find a three pack of men’s dress socks (nice and long is perfect for sock puppets!) that had a pair with a warm yellow ankle and foot (with tan and navy on the leg), a pair of light blue socks, and a navy pair. Not only did I find socks that would work all in the same package, but that package was marked 50% off!
Southwest Credit Card
I get emails from Southwest Airlines, but I usually just ignore them if I’m not planning a trip. I noticed several emails that mentioned the Southwest Companion Pass in the subject line, but ignored them too. I know about the Companion Pass because my brother earns one every year, which means he can bring a designated companion on Southwest flights all year long.
I never opened those emails because I figured a Companion Pass was totally out of my reach . Then, one of the emails caught my attention. In this promotion, you could get a Companion Pass just for opening a Southwest credit card. That is way easier than the normal requirement of taking 100 flights or earning 135,000 points.
I looked into the offer and sure enough, I was right. Through the end of March, you can apply for the Southwest credit card and get a Companion Pass and 30,000 points as a bonus after you spend $4,000 in the first three months. Meeting the spending requirement shouldn’t be hard for us since we use credit cards for most of our purchases anyway.
The companion pass only lasts though the end of next February, but that is plenty of time to get in some free flights! I’m super excited about it because Southwest is already my favorite because they have more legroom than other airlines (important when your husband is 6’7″). And while they are cancelling their 2 bags fly free policy for most passengers, Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card holders will still get 1 checked bag for free for every ticket on your reservation.
The offer is by referral only (and I can’t post the link here), but if you are interested in getting a Southwest credit card so you can get a Companion Pass too, send me a message in the box below (or reply to any of my emails if you’re a subscriber) and I will send you the referral link.
Frugal Flops
Quick Dinner
Mike had to go into Sacramento for work last week. He only goes in to the office a few times a month and either brings leftovers with him or just doesn’t eat until he gets home. This time he had to meet with some private clients directly after work, about an hour and a half away. He was hungry enough to actually stop to get something to eat. Mike is someone who very ,very rarely eats out. Honestly, he is less likely to eat out than anyone else I know. He epitomizes the motto “we have food at home.”
Naturally, he opted for what he thought would be the cheapest thing that would be filling. He decided to get a $5 “Hot and Ready” pizza from Little Caesar’s. Only they aren’t five dollars anymore. His five dollar pizza was actually $10. For that he could have got something at Chipotle that was more nutritious and delicious.
Blog Service
This one is super embarrassing for me, but I’m going to share it anyway because that’s what I do. “Frugal flop” is definitely an understatement in this case.
Many years ago I signed up for a service that backs up my site and includes doing several small technical blog fixes each month if I ask. Over the past seven years, this service has done some very helpful things for me, so I just continued to pay them $47 a month, not knowing when I would need them to save the day next. It has been a couple of years, though, since I have asked for any help. I still saw value in having them back up my site, kind of like blog insurance.
After going through my blog finances, I decided to finally cut this service. I looked on their website an saw that they offer just the site backup for $12 per month without any extra “jobs”. You can pay separately for each small job that you need done ($49 for up to 30 minutes of work). I switched my plan immediately and now save $35 each month.
It’s killing me to think that years ago I could have gone with this plan and saved so much money instead of staying with my old grandfathered plan that came with 5 free jobs. I am not even going to calculate how much money I could have saved because it is a sunk cost and dwelling on it won’t change anything and will only frustrate me more.
Do you have any subscriptions that you don’t use or you don’t get your money’s worth out of? Let this be your reminder to cancel them and reap that savings every single month!
Frugal Funnies
JoAnn Fabrics
For years my husband has been amused by the business model of craft stores like Joann Fabrics and Michaels. The everyday markdowns and sales are jumping out at you in every aisle. No one ever pays full price for anything because every other week any given item is 30 or 40 or 50 percent off. And if the item you need isn’t on sale, there’s a coupon in the ad that you can use for 40% off any item! Mike thinks it’s funny that they have to make their customers feel like their getting a great deal instead of just having straight forward prices. Clearly he doesn’t understand the minds of target audience. 😂
He isn’t the only one who doesn’t “get” the typical Joann shopper. In case you’re living under a rock (or just not the crafty, creative type), Joann filed for bankruptcy and all of their stores are closing. The liquidation company who is handling the going out of business sale apparently doesn’t understand how prices work at Joann. Their sale is a joke!
I didn’t head straight to Joann when I heard the news, but I was itching to. I wanted to buy another big bulk roll of batting for quilting just to stock up. I bought one last year (when it was on sale, of course) and it cost me $96 for 20 yards of 90″ wide batting.
When I finally made it out to Joann’s going-out-of-business sale I was thoroughly disappointed. Big neon signs boasted “sales” of 10% off or 20% off. At a regular store that regularly charges regular prices that might be exciting, but at Joann, where 40-60% off was the norm, that was a laughable deal. They wanted $169 for the batting that I paid $96 to have delivered to my house in September. No thanks! Maybe someone else will fall for that deal, but it won’t be me. While in the store I did a quick Amazon search and found that I can still get it for much less.
It’s Your Turn!
Hey frugal friends! I know you’re out there living the frugal life too! Tell us about any frugal feats, flops, and funnies that you’ve had recently so we can celebrate, commiserate, or laugh together!
